This application relates generally to maintaining a used gas turbine engine component to extend the life of the used component, wherein fluid carrying an abrasive is used to smooth a surface of the used component.
Gas turbine engines are known and typically include multiple sections, such as a fan section, a compression section, a combustor section, a turbine section, and an exhaust nozzle section. The engine includes blade arrays mounted for a rotation about an engine axis. The blade arrays include multiple individual blades that extend radially from a mounting platform to a blade tip. Rotating the blade arrays compresses air in the compression section. The compressed air mixes with fuel and is combusted in the combustor section. The products of combustion expand to rotatably drive blade arrays in the turbine section. The engine also includes vane sections having multiple individual blades that guide airflow though the engine. Operating the engine fatigues components of the engine. The components often roughen in areas of high stress as they fatigue, a process which if left unchecked can proceed until cracks initiate in the components.
To avoid operating the engine with cracked components, technicians typically replace the used components in the engine with new components. Determining when to replace the components involves statistically estimating a minimum useful life of the components (i.e., the minimum period of use before cracks would develop in the component). Technicians then monitor use of the components and remove the components from the engine before they reach their minimum useful life. The removed components are replaced with new, repaired, or used serviceable components. As known, replacing components is costly and time consuming.